In the telecommunication industry, it is commonplace to have a need to gather many types of data from a communication network that may comprise e.g. a mobile communication network and/or a landline communication network. For example, it may be necessary for an operator of the communication network to gather data related to usage of telecommunication services provided by the communication network in order to be able to charge the subscribers for the usage of the telecommunication services. The data related to the usage of the telecommunication services is typically gathered from operator controlled network elements such as, for example, telephone exchanges, network management units, base stations, base station controllers, routers, and/or other network elements that are controlled and maintained by the operator. The fees to be paid by an individual subscriber, i.e. a user of a user terminal device, are determined on the basis of pricing basis applicable to the telecommunication services and data gathered from the above-mentioned operator controlled network elements. Hence, an individual subscriber has a very little chance to check whether he is correctly invoiced.
For another example, there may be a need to monitor the quality of service and performance of the communication network. The operator may gather data related to the usage and availability of the telecommunication services from the operator controlled network elements. The gathered data may comprise information about for example availability of the telecommunication services under consideration and service breaks occurred in conjunction with the said telecommunication services. Furthermore, the operator may use field measurements for monitoring signal levels and/or signal quality at different locations of the communication network. The field measurements are typically carried out by personnel who move on the field and/or in buildings with portable or vehicle-mounted monitoring devices.
Publication US 2006270400 discloses a test system for providing a view of performance of, and problems arising in a wireless communication system. The test system comprises a portable or vehicle-mounted wireless monitoring device for gathering information regarding radio frequency (RF) aspects of the wireless communication system. The test system comprises also a network data monitoring device for gathering information regarding network aspects of the wireless communication system, and a system performance analysis tool coupled to the wireless monitoring device and coupled to the network data monitoring device and arranged to correlate information gathered by the wireless monitoring device and by the network monitoring device. The quality of the monitoring activity described above depends on how frequently and how geographically extensively the wireless monitoring device is used in the wireless communication system. Also the costs due to the monitoring activity depend on the same factors. Hence, due the usage of the wireless monitoring device, there is a trade off between the quality and costs of the monitoring activity.